At 85 dB sensitivity I wouldn't even go with any tube amp, at-least in my case.
Not sure when people say SET watts are more than SS watts, but watts are watts. It is just that when driving to spec SET distortion is more pleasant then SS. But why listen to distortion (I prefer not to)?.
Pulsars are 83 dB efficient?. Not sure why specs on website does not talk about Pulsars sensitivity?. At least it says impedance does not get lower than 6 ohm that is good.
50 Watts will get you to 95 dB at 8 feet for 83 dB speakers.
If you get a good amp that puts out the watts your speaker needs for your listening needs without breaking a sweat you should not hear a difference. Basically non-existent distortion for all the watts your music needs. This is difficult at loud levels for fair moderately efficient speakers. What I have learned is to not to drive an amp to its spec.
If you want to go in the SET direction then may be pick a speaker that is close to 98 dB or even 100 dB sensitivity?. Then 10 to 20 watts SET will get you there given impedance does not swing. It is a bad idea to pick speaker after choosing an amp, in my limited opinion.
I do own Line Magnetic 508ia and it puts out 48 Watts for a price that is hard to imagine!. It sounds great at moderate levels on 92 dB paradigm studio 40v3 (when compared to Marantz SR7005). It seems it may not be good enough for new set of speakers I got myself, so I am on the fence with this class A tube thing.
If you can do true A/B test of AMPs, after level matching the SPL level, you should not hear any difference at normal listening levels for good amps SET/Push-pull/Class A/ClassAB or Class D etc.
Not sure when people say SET watts are more than SS watts, but watts are watts. It is just that when driving to spec SET distortion is more pleasant then SS. But why listen to distortion (I prefer not to)?.
Pulsars are 83 dB efficient?. Not sure why specs on website does not talk about Pulsars sensitivity?. At least it says impedance does not get lower than 6 ohm that is good.
50 Watts will get you to 95 dB at 8 feet for 83 dB speakers.
If you get a good amp that puts out the watts your speaker needs for your listening needs without breaking a sweat you should not hear a difference. Basically non-existent distortion for all the watts your music needs. This is difficult at loud levels for fair moderately efficient speakers. What I have learned is to not to drive an amp to its spec.
If you want to go in the SET direction then may be pick a speaker that is close to 98 dB or even 100 dB sensitivity?. Then 10 to 20 watts SET will get you there given impedance does not swing. It is a bad idea to pick speaker after choosing an amp, in my limited opinion.
I do own Line Magnetic 508ia and it puts out 48 Watts for a price that is hard to imagine!. It sounds great at moderate levels on 92 dB paradigm studio 40v3 (when compared to Marantz SR7005). It seems it may not be good enough for new set of speakers I got myself, so I am on the fence with this class A tube thing.
If you can do true A/B test of AMPs, after level matching the SPL level, you should not hear any difference at normal listening levels for good amps SET/Push-pull/Class A/ClassAB or Class D etc.